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The 2018 batch of one of High West’s most fun expressions, Yippee Ki-Yay, is hitting shelves. The distillery starts with their Double Rye!, a blend of straight whiskies, and finished them in vermouth and syrah barrels.

Most of the whiskies that make up the Double Rye! are sourced, but this year’s batch contains some of High West’s own distillate. Master Distiller Brendan Coyle said a component whiskey from the Barton distillery was replaced with a High West-distilled rye, though the team was very careful not to change the flavor profile.

It’s all in the blending, which High West excels at, in my opinion.

Yippee Ki-Yay! is bottled at 46% abv. My sample is from batch 18C29.

The nose is ripe with vibrant rye grain, fresh stone fruits, sweet pickles, sage and cinnamon. The palate starts spicy, with allspice, cinnamon sugar, and black peppercorns. Vanilla and fruit syrup arrives to soothe those spices, developing into caramel and freshly sawn oak. The dried herbs on the nose also show up in the mid-palate. The medium-length, warm, and slightly dry finish features more sweet fruit, dried basil, and rye spice.

As I mentioned earlier, Yippee Ki-Yay! is a fun and tasty whiskey. It takes the spiciness of a young rye whiskey blend and adds in fruit from the unique finish. Want something interesting? Reach for this one. 8/10